Wednesday, January 19, 2011

"That's A Big Bike!"

I make no secret of not liking to ride light weight sport bicycles. I am enormously uncomfortable on twitchy, skinny tired, racy bicycles. The bigger the better for me. A huge, heavy monster of a bicycle is right up my alley.

Back in September, I got to ride the biggest, heaviest bicycle I have been on yet- the cargo bicycle designed for the 2009 Oregon Manifest show by Metrofiets. While it may have been light weight by the standards of many 7 foot long steel cargo bicycles, it is not a feather weight.

After deliberating about our upcoming transportation needs, James and I decided that if we were going to put this much money into a new cargo bicycle (Cameron has been gifted the xtracycle) that we felt best about giving that money to someone we knew in exchange for something one of a kind, a rolling work of art.

So with the addition of a wooden box (also handmade and removable so we can use the basic platform should we chose) this gorgeous machine is now ours!

Because I am too busy just enjoying our new ride, I have not come up with anything technical about my land based cruise ship. There are some lovely details I want to photograph that all of you bike geeks out there will drool over. In the mean time, I have a couple pictures of my first San Francisco day with my movable conversation piece.

Because I am fascinated by the front of my bike being four feet ahead of me I tend to notice the space right in front of me more than usual. Of course this also because I have to remember not to bump things with my front wheel. I think that the world would be a very different place if people noticed things like this more often.

Parking something this big takes a little creativity. Or a nice standard parking space in front of the bakery. The law does not say you have to park a car in a parking space, only that you must pay for it and observe the time limits, so in I went. I love how the guy in the black car waited for me to move as soon as I got in it. There were ten minutes left on the meter and I was feeling a need to use all of them. I usually only do this if there are multiple bicycles that need parking, but this thing is as big as three bikes so it works. Anyway, the space was already being taken over by alternate users.

At many points, people were unable to resist looking at my lovely bicycle. A couple of them nearly crashed while riding by because they were so distracted. Several pulled out the smart phones to take pictures. This guy used his to find info about the bicycle while he walked around it!

There will be more info in the days to come. I am going to have Hubby The Bikeman write up the technical stuff (he is a huge bike geek, so it will make him happy. I just like to ride!). At some point I will get comfortable enough on it to take some pandas.

Too cool! I read your blog all the time as I love your view on biking and life in general. I never would have guessed we have the same taste in bikes though. My wife and I made the same choice to go with Metrofiets and received our bike back in 2009. Phil and Jamie are the best and it never ceases to amaze me how much fun their bikes are to ride.

I rode that bike just over 200 miles for STP. It was a smooth ride; rode well; and did not tax my body like I thought the ride would. I love that bike. I thought about purchasing it as well. Keep the stories coming. Seeing Metrofiets in SF is a good thing.

Adam- I think the front is 24" and those are Big Apple tires. They are lovely!!!!

Randy- thank you! I am glad you enjoy the blog. You are sooooo right about how nice the Metro is to ride.

Travis- are you the one riding it with the aero bars? That picture cracks me up- a cargo bike with aero bars!! I am told my bike is worth ein beer over at Suppenkuche which I plan to take advantage of this week!

Gorgeous bike! I have to say I've always been curious about the balance on bikes like this. I find the more cargo I have the more wobbly I am, so I would probably be in favor of a cargo trike vs. bike if I ever got one. Maybe I just have terrible balance, though!

The low center of gravity - actually improves the stability of the bike as you add weight. Having two wheels vs three - two wheels actually rides like a normal bike whereas a trike can be a bit counterintuitive when cornering and makeing wide turns. It's all good tho - and you don't have to put your foot down when stopped on a trike. :)